[UPDATE: Since I wrote this post, Jon Tevlin of the Minneapolis Star Tribunehas also taken a critical look at the dubious “Native American” connections of Nemenhah. He is not convinced either.]

JISHOU, HUNAN — The degree to which frauds can dupe the unsuspecting and to which otherwise intelligent people can believe utter nonsense never ceases to amaze me.

Take the sad case of Daniel Hauser, 13, who has Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He and his parents refused chemotherapy after his first treatment, saying it is contrary to their religious beliefs. Their refusal led the Brown County (Minn.) Attorney’s office to file a child endangerment complaint against the parents. The case is now in court.

The Hausers are “traditional catholics,” according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, but the crux of their defense is their membership in the Nemenhah. Their attorneys insist that the Nemenhah’s religious beliefs are protected by federal Indian Affairs law, so the Hausers can do whatever they bloody well please.

The Star Trib and other media sources identify the Nemenhah as “an American Indian religious organization.”

Well, it ain’t.

The Hausers are probably very nice people, and perhaps they would prefer not to see their young son suffer through chemo, but they are dupes, plain and simple.

Here is what I have been able to piece together about the Nemenhah Band, to which the Hausers apparently belong.

The Nemenhah are not a true Native American tribe, nation or group. They are wannabe Natives — white folks who adopt Native-sounding names and steal adopt Native American ways. This behavior has recently become a trend among New Agers in the USA, who have pretty much milked Eastern medicine and philosophy for ideas to peddle to the ignorant here. Now they are robbing Native American culture for fresh ideas to sell.

The Nemenhah’s websites claim, however, that the people known as the Nemenhah came to North America from the Middle East before the Christian era, and settled in the Four Corners area. Records (the Mentinah Archives) of their history and beliefs were preserved there, and only were recently (2004) translated into English. If this history sounds awfully like what is in the Book of Mormon, then it may interest you to know that the Nemenhah supposedly joined Hagoth, a figure in the BoM, when he left his homeland.

The LDS church, however, does not recognize the Mentinah Archives as authentic. The irony there is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

For suggested initial and monthly “donations,” you too can become a member of the Nemenhah, can buy their tribal medicinals, and can even sell them to your friends and family by joining the Nemenhah MLM.

Being afforded “spiritual adoption” means protection under federal law, the Nemenhah website says. “As a Nemenhah Medicine Man or Woman you will be able to practice your Healing Ministry under the full weight and protection of the Native American Free Exercise of Religion Act 1993 (NAFERA) and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 1993 (RFRA).”

There is no archeological or historical evidence of a people named the Nemenhah living in the Four Corners, however. (There is also no similar evidence corroborating the Book of Mormon, but that’s another story.) The US Bureau of Indian Affairs and Native American organizations do not recognize the Nemenhah as a valid tribe or nation, either.

Contrary to Native American practice, the Nemenhah’s online healing academy charges money (aka donations) for training to be a medicine man or woman. The Hausers, including Daniel, are medicine men, according to news reports.

You cannot become a member of a recognized Native American nation, tribe or people by paying money. To gain membership, your ancestors had to have been Native Americans, and you have to prove it. Saying your great-grandfather was Cherokee, for example, does not mean you are a Cherokee.

For that matter, paying money to a church for training or religious education is pretty atypical, unless the church happens to be the Church of Scientology.

The presumed head of the organization, known formally as the Nemenhah Band and Native American Traditional Organization (Oklevueha Native American Church of Sanpete), is Phillip R. Landis, who goes by the pseudo-Native name of “Cloudpiler.” Landis is a naturopath by profession.

Landis, coincidentally, wrote the foreword to the “translation” of the Mentinah Archives and published the English translation. The original texts are supposedly locked away in a safe location, while five unnamed translators voluntarily work on the translation.

Someone on a Mormon forum site challenged the authenticity of the Mentinah Archives. Landis, under the unlikely name of Ea-lea Powitz Peopeo, responded with a lengthy diatribe providing arcane details about the Nemenhah and the archives, all couched in language to appeal to a Mormon readership.

Those who want a better idea of what the Lord is doing to bring forth these translations can go back and study how the Lord did it with Joseph Smith. It is very similar. The heavens are opened. The original writers and God are very much involved in helping the translators. This should not be a surprise to anyone, yet it is a great stumbling block for many because of the condition the prophets and Christ said the Church and the world would be in in our day. For example, there are those who simply do not believe that God will allow anyone to be a translator unless he is one of the General Authorities of the Church. They don’t recognize that Joseph Smith was a translator before he was called to be the head of the Church. The fact is, God can call anyone He wants to be a translator, even an ignorant farm boy.

More of his rationalizations can be found here: http://blog.nemenhah.org/ The organization and financial structure of the Nemenhah and its MLM seem pretty sketchy to me, but I am not a lawyer.

Speaking of the law, Landis several years ago had some legal problems in Montana and Idaho regarding a mushroom-growing business that encouraged farmers to grow reishi mushers and be paid for their harvest. Some farmers allegedly never got paid.

The layers of deceit in this story are almost too many to count. We have a family who have bought into (literally) a supposed Native American church. This church claims to give its members protection under federal Indian Affairs law, but the church and the Nemenhah tribe in fact are not recognized Native American entites.

Meanwhile, the sole reason for the Nemenhah Band’s existence apparently is to peddle a line of “traditional” medicinals, using a dubious MLM scheme, to people like the Hausers, who want alternative ways to stay healthy.

“The Star Trib and other media sources identify the Nemenhah as “an American Indian religious organization.” TRUE STORY
“Well, it ain’t” You are fraudulently misinformed. I am President of Oklevueha Native American Church, http://www.nativeamericanchurch.net, Nemenhah or Oklevueha Native American Church of Sanpete (President is Phil ‘Cloudpiler’ Landis, presides over a bona fide branch of the Oklevueha Native American Church or Oklevueha Lakota Sioux Nation Native American Church and has for more than 5 years.
“This church claims to give its members protection under federal Indian Affairs law” TRUE STORY
“The layers of deceit in this story are almost too many to count. We have a family who have bought into (literally) a supposed Native American church. This church claims to give its members protection under federal Indian Affairs law, but the church and the Nemenhah tribe in fact are not recognized Native American entites.” Sir you’re the one that is making fraudulent and flat out wrong assertions.

“but the church and the Nemenhah tribe in fact are not recognized Native American entites”
Since when does the federal government demand a church to predicate its membership on race or a political affiliation (Federally recognized tribe or American Native person)? Where on earth did you get that completely unconstitutional idea from, no need to answer this question, I don’t want to know.

I have attempted to verify that your church is in fact associated with the Lakota Sioux. I can find no independent evidence of that connection, only self-referential statements on the site you have linked to. Considering the Nez Percé told the Nemenhah organization to change its name, I am wondering how long it will before the Lakota Sioux cry foul as well.

Can you provide a source — other than your own website — that verifies your church is actually associated with the Lakota Sioux?

I am making “fraudulent and flat out wrong assertions?” Fine. Prove that I am not. The Nemenhah Band is not on the list of 560 or so federally recognized Native American nations or tribes. Nor do Native Americans recognize the Nemenhah as a true Native People. The State of Utah’s Supreme Court may have given you a pass a few years ago to legally use peyote in a religious context, but as I read its ruling, the Court based its decision on a poorly written Utah law. The Court, as I understand the ruling, did not rule whether Nemenhah was a Native American organization under Utah law.

Besides, state Supreme Courts have no jurisdiction over federal law, or the law in other states.

You say, “Since when does the federal government demand a church to predicate its membership on race or a political affiliation …?” It does not and cannot, under the First Amendment, but Nemenhah and the Hausers are attempting to use federal Indian laws as a legal defense. They opened the question. Therefore, the judge has to examine the validity of both Daniel’s religious beliefs and the veracity of Nemenhah’s claims to be a Native American church. That’s the way the law works.

As a matter of disclosure, you might also mention in your comment that you are an elder of the Nemenhah Band, and are therefore a somewhat biased source of information.

Thank you for your advice to use Google. I am quite capable of using it, and using it well, but rather thought asking you directly for the information would be more efficient. I can see I was mistaken.

I was asking for corroborating evidence of your connection to the Lakota Sioux from sources independent of your own organizations. The links you provide are self-referential, not independent of the Oklevueha NAC. Mr Tom, meanwhile, is an official in your church, and if I am not mistaken, an elder of the Nehemhah Band. So, pointing me to a photo of Mr. Tom does not really answer the question.

Displaying affidavits and notarized documents on your website(s) is not satisfactory evidence, by the way. For example, I can write out an affidavit that I am the long lost descendent of Sitting Bull, and have four witnesses attest to the fact that I wrote it and signed. Likewise, a notary can affix his or her seal and attest to the fact that I am in fact the person who signed another, similar document. Neither process guarantees the statements I have made are actually true.

You have quoted part of the 2004 Utah Supreme Court decision regarding the use of peyote by you and others in religious ceremonies. My point, however, was that this decision has no bearing on federal law or regulations or on the laws and regulations of the State of Minnesota, where the Hausers live. The Utah legislature also later amended the pertinent law to exclude non-Native Americans from legally using peyote, a federally controlled substance.

Elders in Native American may be “always honored,” but I am not Native American and quite frankly I am not convinced you are either. Asking for additional proof is, in my mind, not disrespectful, and if you have it, presumably not difficult to provide.

Besides, state Supreme Courts have no jurisdiction over federal law, or the law in other states

¶22 Because the text of the exemption is devoid of any reference to tribal status, we find no support for an interpretation limiting the exemption to tribal members. See Boyll, 774 F. Supp. at 1338 (holding that under the plain language of the federal Religious Peyote Exemption, the exemption applies to all members of the Native American Church, regardless of any tribal affiliation). The term “members” in the exemption clearly refers to members of the “Native American Church”–not to members of federally recognized tribes. Therefore, so long as their church is part of “[t]he Native American Church,” the Mooneys may not be prosecuted for using peyote in bona fide religious ceremonies.

It does not and cannot, under the First Amendment, but Nemenhah and the Hausers are attempting to use federal Indian laws as a legal defense. They opened the question. Therefore, the judge has to examine the validity of both Daniel’s religious beliefs and the veracity of Nemenhah’s claims to be a Native American church. TRUE STORY and they are prepared to do such.
As a matter of disclosure, you might also mention in your comment that you are an elder of the Nemenhah Band, and are therefore a somewhat biased source of information.

In the American Native Culture an Elders status is always honored. You as predictable assume that my statements are biased rather than informing you of the facts exposing your published slanderous statements.

I’ve been following this story with interest. I’ve gone to Phillip Landis’ blog (http://blog.nemenhah.org/) where he calls himself “Chief Cloudpiler” & then sets out to define what he perceives to be loopholes in non-profit tax law & “donations” or “tithes”. He didn’t form his “church” in Utah for any other reason. He thinks he’s neatly cut himself off personally from corporate subsidiaries doing business selling herbal concoctions, but continues to profit from them. On the Nemenhah site, his oh-so-obvious greed continues in the form of outright demands for “voluntary donations”: $250, $100, $30, plus additional “donations” every single month. I know of no authentic church that demands payment for instruction on its spiritual path, let alone any Native Americans! Is it only by being a card-carrying “medicine man/woman” that a person is considered a member of this made-up “tribe” with self-claimed murky Mormon ties that the Mormons won’t even acknowledge? Is that where the legal protection is supposed to come from under NAFERA and RFRA? Does Landis think that the state of Utah & the Feds won’t mess with anything calling itself Mormon?

The fact remains that no herbs or ceremonies hawked by Landis, his corporate subsidaries, or his “members” are going to cure Hodgkins lymphoma The Hauser boy is going to *die* without medical treatment. Is that what Phil Landis is really all about – defrauding people by peddling herbal quackery until a child dies?

I wonder how long Landis will stand behind the Hausers? He must be quite uneasy with all the attention. When the “Nemenhah Church” get prosecuted by civil, state, & Federal authorities, I’ll be watching that with a great deal of interest as well. I can’t *wait* to see it happen. I’ve written extensively about this on one of my social websites, to ensure as much widespread coverage as can be mustered. Of course, everyone is entitled to discuss news stories in public – right? Freedom of speech & all that.

I fervently pray that Daniel Hauser does not die from stupidity & greed.

“My point, however, was that this decision has no bearing on federal law or regulations or on the laws and regulations of the State of Minnesota”

Oh my goodness, get some help to understand the following.

“the plain language of the FEDERAL RELIGIOUS Peyote Exemption”

“(holding that under the plain language of the federal Religious Peyote Exemption, the exemption applies to all members of the Native American Church, regardless of any tribal affiliation). The term “members””

“Elders in Native American may be “always honored,” but I am not Native American and quite frankly I am not convinced you are either. Asking for additional proof is, in my mind, not disrespectful, and if you have it, presumably not difficult to provide.”

Who cares rather you are convinced of something or not.

At least the last few posts you have made on this issue was void of slanderous statements. That says something good about you.

Mooney’s still dodging the fact that he and the rest of his crew are not Native American by any definition…have no culture, no language and no community.
Flaming Eagle????? gimme a break…say it in your own language (apparently English only) or don’t bother trying to pass that one off James.

He is…as is common among New Age Frauds…a very overconfident individual and very self-centered in thinking with a complete inability to see himself for what he really is….just give him enough rope.

I feel bad for this boy however….I hope he gets better, however I fear that his own parents have led him to this sickness (in an Indians way of looking at it) by abusing things they don’t understand and may be making things worse for him.

I went to that site and found my answer to the Lakota question I asked James F.E. Mooney earlier. Thanks for the link.

@Mike “MadDog” Garlaza:

Thanks for saying it better, and more authentically than I could. I’m not a Native American, and if I had any Native blood it would be Lenni Lenape and so diluted by now that it would be pointless to say I did. At the same time, it really pisses me off that these people play at being Native Americans (while being culturally lily white) and use that pretend association to swindle the unsuspecting. Cloudpiler says he’s one-fourth Native American. I’d like him to prove it, because I don’t believe it. Mooney says he’s a descendent of Chief Joseph, though an adopted granddaughter of the Chief. OK, I am still not convinced.

I am sorry you lost your mother because of the advice she accepted from these people. Miracle-cure charlatans are like wolves hunting antelope: they look for the weakest member to take down. Your mom was sick and desperate, and maybe scared of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Both are awful experiences, but the likely reward for all the pain and suffering is a person’s life back again. Instead, if she took Landis’ advice, as you say, she had horrific pain and suffering that ultimately killed her.

The man is a cold, heartless coward and a charlatan. If he were a real medicine man, his people would have kicked him out of the tribe years ago. If he were a real doctor, he would have lost his medical license ages ago. I wouldn’t trust him any farther than I could throw him.

This is what he told the Associated Press yesterday:

Landis said he founded the faith after facing his diagnosis of a cancer similar to Daniel Hauser. He said he treated it with diet choices, visits to a sweat lodge and other natural remedies. Landis also once served four months in prison in Idaho for fraud related to advocating natural remedies.

“The issue is Danny’s right to decide how he wants to live his life,” Landis said. “What if they make him take chemotherapy and he dies from that? The band will mourn with the family if that’s the case, but we’ll rejoice that Danny had the opportunity to test the law of the land.”

Odds are, Danny will now live past his 18th birthday and have a full, happy life. Cloudpiler’s “test” of “the law of the land” failed, with damn good reason. But I bet this defeat won’t slow the Nemenhah Band down at all. They’ll still peddle their faux medicine and their faux Native American-ness to the weaker antelope.

What we have here is another group of white shaman wannabes attempting to peddle their Googled “geniuine native” malarkey to an unsuspecting and gullible public. I would refer people to the Lakota position on these morons:

My mother died because she followed his healing advice instead of receiving medical treatment. Here is a copy of an email I sent the chief. cloudpiler@nemenhah.org

Phil Landis (AKA Cloudpiler),

Thanks to all the publicity you’re receiving from this Daniel Hauser case, I finally caught up to you. I’m sure you’ve wanted to know how things ended up with my mother, Richelle, your neighbor at Parks Place, Hideaway Valley, UT.

If your memory needs refreshed, she had uterine cancer, which is 75% to 95% survivable with appropriate (medical) treatment.

However, you advised her to use your alternative healing methods, which she did.

As you were aware, she became sicker and sicker, as she continued to do what you advised her to do. When I came to visit her, you would disappear.

When she became so sick that she needed 24 hour care, my wife and I brought her to our home in Idaho. Here, we cared for her and loved her until she died.

Then, I saw your mugshot on the local TV news, convicted of fraud.

Now, I see you’re using religion to cover your multi-level marketing scam to distribute the same healing methods that lead to my mother’s death.

To top it off, I understand you claim to have discovered and translated some ancient plates which prove you’re the chief of some lost tribe of Native Americans!

Do you have any idea how ridiculous that is? Sadly, there are people who innocently fall for your deceit. Like my mom did.

I wonder how many other people have died because of what you do.

Does it bother you?

Here’s something you should know: My wife and my dad both had cancer at the same time as my mother. Weird, huh. The thing is, my wife and my dad are still here. Cured by surgery. Perfectly healthy now.

I miss my mom, and every time I think of her slow, painful, rotting, stinking death my heart breaks all over again.

You are not only a fraud, chief, you’re a killer.

I’m going to post a copy of this letter to the blogs that come up on the first search page when your name is googled.

Personally, I believe that the hauser boy and his parents should be left the hell alone. The government has no right to make people do things they don’t want to do. If the Hausers wish to find alternative ways of healing, God help them!

With that said, let me get to the reason I’m posting this comment. I recently learned of this ” Nemenhah Band”, and I’m convinced their full of shit. They sound like the same bunch of white, mormon fuckheads that think American Indians are descended from Jews. I welcome anyone who believes this absolute fucking bullshit to come to the rez, me and my buds will show them a good time.lol

I’m of Navajo/Apache descent, and I’m an Iraq war veteran. When I here stories about these assholes, who so arrogantly disrespect our traditions, I fly off the handle!!!

Isn’t it bad enough that you people stole are land? Now you want are culture too? Any real indian can see that these people are bullshitters, just look at how loosely they use the term “medicine man”. In our culture, medicine men were revered people, who had many kinds of powers, including healing. A person couldn’t just proclaim themselves a healer, they had to have proven themselves. So uh, yeah.lol

And this taking of Indian names, holy shit!!! Flaming eagle??? Cloudpiler??? Are you serious? If you are, I have a question. Were these names given to you by a Native elder, or your parent? Or are these names you or your white friends came up with, because you thought they sounded cool?

I’m not an elder yet, someday, but I think your names should be Flaming Homosexual, and Dog shitpiler.lol I really think it’s funny how there are so many white people that want to be indians. Why can’t you just be happy with the palefaces you are, and go back where you came from. j/k But seriously, be happy with your whiteness. I welcome anyone who has a genuine interest in our history or our spirituality, to adopt our way of life. It is a good way, but you have to learn it! A person can’t create a bullshit tribe and pretend their indian, that’s a good way to piss off the real ones.

These Nemenhah people are disrespectful, and they can all go fuck themselves. Us real indians will be on the rez, keeping it real, haha.

And “MadDog” is not my indian name, it’s a name I got in the Marines, because I fight like a mad dog.lol Just a true Apache warrior, hooaahh!!!

Thanks for the crossposting. Gorski’s article is comprehensive, and covers the medical angles far better than I can.

Government has a right to “meddle” in people’s medical affairs when (a) children are involved and (b) when the safety of the community at large is involved. We have child protection services for (a) and vaccinations and quarantines for (b). The complete story about the Hausers is still shrouded in some mystery. Daniel has severe learning disabilities (he cannot read) stemming from a complicated delivery done in his parent’s home by a midwife. The Hausers have seven other children. And apparently Daniel at least was homeschooled. Maybe all the kids were.

Now, parents of large families can certainly take care of their children. They can opt for home delivery. They can even homeschool their kids. But single-minded thinking can lead to catastrophe.

My wife wanted a home delivery (with midwife) for our two children, but her ob-gyn convinced her otherwise. Our daughter was breech and came out by C-section. Our son was delivered the normal way, but it was not an easy delivery and certainly not suitable for a home birth. I suspect Hauser’s midwife would have preferred a hospital delivery for Daniel, but the Hausers are in a rural area and perhaps the complications came too quickly for transport to hospital.

Teaching an LD child is not easy, even for professionals. I cannot imagine how the Hausers, with a dairy farm to run and seven other kids, could possibly give Daniel the kind of education he would need to compensate for his learning problems. That he, at age 13, cannot read and still depends on his mother to make decisions for him and speak for him suggests a developmental disability, as well.

As I have said, the Hausers are probably really nice folks, but colossally misguided. They ended up in a bad situation, and instead of trusting several medical doctors’ advice, they chose to listen to someone who told what they wanted to hear. “Daniel can live without chemo and without pain; he just needs to take our special medicinals and drink ionized water. All will be well. You’ll see.”

I hope that the Hausers cooperate with the judge’s ruling, that Daniel does not fight his doctors tooth and nail, and that this poor family does not have to suffer any more than it has already.

@galigo: I would like to add my condolences and deepest sympathies and thank you for telling your story to everyone who will listen.

@MadDog: I agree with you completely about the government butting out of our medical affairs, FOR ADULTS. If this case wasn’t tied into a first amendment issue with freedom of religion it would be a clear cut case of GROSS NEGLIGENCE. The current survival rate for the boy is 90% with medical treatment and 5% without; that is tantamount to a death sentence. The United States gives parents a lot of free reign when it comes to raising their children, but it is not limitless.

I am in total agreement with the Founder of Nemenhah Philip Cloudpiler Landis. Respecting the judiciary proceeding is mandatory for maintaining a respectable society. “The founder of Nemenhah, Philip Cloudpiler Landis, said it was a bad idea for Colleen Hauser to flee with her son” “She should have gone to court,” Landis said. “It’s how we work these things out. You don’t solve anything by disregarding the order of the judge.”

Emotionally I am torn between respecting a Mothers Sacred Mantle concerning her child and interference of government of this sacred relationship between a mother and her children. Truly a difficult situation.

United States Federal Defenders Attorney Office financed DNA testing, along with proven genealogical work, confirmed that James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney is of direct lineage to the famed Seminole Spiritual Leader (Medicine Man) and War Chief Osceola.
United States Attorneys and Investigators did an exhaustive and thorough investigation. Sending a federal attorney, and investigator to Florida, Texas, Missouri, Southern Utah and South Dakota, it was found through their expert interviewing and investigative tactics that James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney is of American Native decent, and had been legally proven to have received blessings by a Seminole Tribal Chief and her Tribal council, a Lakota Sioux Rosebud President and Roadman of the Rosebud Reservation Native American Church of South Dakota and a renowned Huichole Mara’akame of Mexico, to be a bona fide and legally instituted Medicine Person of American Native Spirituality. The United States Government’s investigation also substantiated that at the age of 4, he had been blessed by his American Native Grandparents, on his father’s side, to be a Medicine person through their American Native spiritual dedicative blessing ceremony (Sweat Lodge) for an infant child to becoming a bona fide American Native Spiritual Leader.
Something else the United States Governments investigators substantiated, James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney is a direct descendent and named after, the famed American Native Smithsonian Institute Ethnologist James Mooney. The same James Mooney that argued for American Native Spiritual Constitutional Rights in front of the United States House of Representatives and co-assisted with Comanche Spiritual Leader Quanah Parker the formulation and Incorporation of the Native American Church in 1918.
Another interesting finding by United States Attorneys and Investigators was that ‘prior’ to the State of Utah raiding Oklevueha Native American Church (Benjamin, Utah) a bona fide Native American Church, State of Utah Governor Michael Leavitt had awarded ‘Flaming Eagle’ a citizen of the Year Accommodation for the Spiritual Medicine work rendered by James to the State of Utah Department of Corrections for his outstanding contribution in establishing the ‘first’ Nationally recognized American Native Ceremonial Program for the State of Utah Department of Corrections.
James Warren ‘Flaming Eagle’ Mooney, along with Richard ‘He Who Has the Foundation’ Swallow, co-founded the Oklevueha Lakota Sioux Nation Native American Church, December 17, 2007. Presently, there are over 81 Branches of the Oklevueha Native American Church in the United States, spreading from the State of New York to the State of Hawaii, Two Peruvian, One European, and Five American Native Federally Recognized Tribal Nation Oklevueha Native American Churches (Cherokee, Choctaw, Lakota Sioux, Navajo and Paiute Nations with CEO’s that are federally recognized Indians of their prospective tribes).

It seems that there is much controversy and ego here that is clouding the truth. While it is more than unfortunate of what happened to the people who were in the Americas when the white man came, we cannot change the past. For the modern white man to try and correct something that he had nothing to do w/ in present time, isn’t reasonable and neither is being angry over the atrocities committed in the past (excluding present atrocities) against the red people. That kind of energy keeps us stuck in the past, pollutes the present and clouds our vision for a peaceful co-existence for the future. Besides giving preferential treatment to any group of people based on race is another form of racism. People of all races, colors, classes and creeds deserve the right to responsibly pursue their spiritual path and be protected by the Constitution.

While I only have something like 1/120% Cherokee blood in me, I don’t consider myself to be Cherokee. I do however consider myself to be a native American bc I was born here. If one were to look back far enough, the red man migrated to Americas just like the whit man. I also agree w/ the many views against the froo-froo New Agers and how they have turned spirituality into a popular marketable commodity profiting from those seeking something other than what the mainstream has to offer. Exploitation aside, what is wrong w/ culture and spirituality evolving and creating a way of life that works in present time that you feel a connection to? The “Native Americans” had/ have many good ideas on living and spirituality, but let us not forget that they also had their own human iniquities by warring amongst themselves not to mention tribal life could be pretty brutal, depending on the tribe, in our modern way of thinking. Whether our skin is white or red, we all are subject to being human and our hearts beat in the same way.

The truth is that we are all brothers and sisters here stewarding this planet Earth and that the land doesn’t belong to anyone but the Creator. I think that the Creator would be most pleased to see us trying to co-exist peacefully and treating each other w/ love and understanding. The white man needs to have compassion for the atrocities committed (and still being committed) against his red brothers and sisters. The red man needs to forgive his white brothers and sisters. Tearing each other down only serves to inflate our egos, impedes the healing process and keeps us separated. While this is idealistic, it is possible. This way of life and thinking starts w/ each of us making a conscious decision to be the change we wish to see.

I wish much love and aloha to all the people of the Earth, especially those that have commented so heatedly on this web-site. My prayer is that we will all be able to set our egos aside and help each other co-create a peaceful existence for all our relations and future generations. We are the ones we have been waiting for. Only love can overpower hate.

Deluca…without citing a source and by writing what amounts to biased opinion with no names and with no names of any offices associated you fail to prove any point.

Can you cite the case that was financed by the United States Federal Defenders Attorney Office (and which office…what district, what location, what attorney…the federal public defenders are not one autonomous unit so please be specific)?

Can you cite where the information about the the DNA testing results come from?

And when you mention Chiefs and spiritual leaders….what are their names???

Makes no sense to make a post and act as if you’ve said anything when you’re just spouting the same stuff all spiritual exploiters spout. Answer these questions and show some real proof.

AND THEN

Show me where Moody speaks his language, and what community with an established land base claims him as one of their own.

Hate to point out the obvious, but we’re dealing with individuals selling religion for money here and nothing else.

Regardless of your opinions of Mooney or Landis, the Nemenhah band is providing a valuable service to humanity. There are natural solutions to the most difficult health challenges, if you are willing to make the life changes required. You cannot continue to poison yourself with medications, non-food passing for food, EMF pollution, etc., and expect your health to change. To change your health, you have to change your life. The religion of Western Medicine preaches the corporate lie that all you have to change is your chemistry and remove organs as they wear out. We are more than chemicals! We must involve our minds and our spirits in the healing process to be most successful. Cutting out a tumor does not change the conditions that prevented the immune system from taking care of the cancer like it was designed to. The federal government has been corrupted by the money involved in the pharmaceutial industry and does not want any other approach to become popular. Read up on the history of the Flexnor report. The FDA and FTC will crucify anyone claiming a cure for anything that is not a drug. If you choose to use medicine, that is your choice. Don’t tell me I don’t have the choice to use natural healing methods. The Nemenhah goal is to restore the sacred to natural healing. I assume Native American Tribal healers feel the same way. I don’t see any tribes trying to help the public adopt a spiritual path for healing. If you have something of great value and keep it to yourself, you can justifiably lose ownership of it. Protecting natural healers from persecution by the federal government so they can serve the people that choose this path is bigger than the issues that have been raised here. And if a family decides not to risk misery, sterility and death by medicine, they should have that right. The statistics of medical success in cancer treatment are grossly misrepresented. As Mark Twain said, there are lies, there are damn lies, and then there are statistics.

Some of what you say has merit, but you are off base in some other aspects.

Had the cancer patient in question not been a minor child, no one — maybe — would have forced him or his parents to take the chemotherapy. Adults have the option to take natural cures, although the track record of such cures is not as wonderful as you seem to believe. It’s certainly no better than chemo and radiation therapy. As for a healthy diet, environment and lifestyle, all are beneficial to one’s healthy and well-being, but there are no guarantees they will prevent cancer.

I am not a Native American, but your accusation that Natives are withholding their teachings deliberately from the public is offensive. The Nemenhah are not Native Americans; most of the various Native nations do not accept them as “one of them.” In fact, at least one Native American website calls the Nemenhah “false Indians,” white people who only claim they are Native. (It would be interesting to see if Landis or Mooney would agree to a DNA test to see if they carry Native American haploids.)

As for the feds persecuting natural healers, you are overstating the case. The people facing prosecution (there is a difference) were the boy’s family, who were deliberately skirting legal requirements that they obey the court. Landis and Mooney were not hounded or arrested. In fact, as far as I know, they are still free to peddle whatever they like to the public.

When Oklevueha NAC authorized Phil ‘Cloudpilier’ Landis Independent Branch of Oklevueha NAC, we were familiar of Mr. Landis personal history and of his heritage. We found him to be very astute in his knowledge of the plant kingdom and a distant descendent of Chief Joseph. However, this knowledge was not the deciding factor of Phil receiving a Independent Branch of Oklevueha NAC, the spirit to strengthen by protecting Mr. Landis already blossoming gifts was the major motivation. He has brought nothing but honor and respect of service to Oklevueha NAC and his heritage.

In Oklevueha NAC opinion, In reality blood quantum has very little to do with spiritual matters.

Having recently come across Mooney and his church I would point out some things. You can start your own branch of his church by paying $7600 plus costs for him to sit with you for four hours for a blessing. I don’t really need to read anything else to know he is a fraud and has no regard for native tradition or spirituality.

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
Kurt Vonnegut

I am amazed at how often people are upset at people adopting culture, how it is seen as disrespectful and not an honor that aspects of their way of life are emulated and viewed as sacred. Are you naysayers so hateful and disrespectful to Christians,Muslims,Catholics ect who convert between religions. If I am born with fair skin in the United States, will I only be identified as a pig-dog devil of the west? I believe that Plants have awareness and science is starting to back that up, I also believe that there is an important message for every ear that is willing to listen, and this message is the enemy of consumer capitalism and destroying the earth. I am glad that people feel connected to the earth and nature through plant medicine regardless of their race, prior beliefs, cultural background or sexual orientation. Of course this is just my opinion and thank you for reading.

I’m amazed at people who appropriate the beliefs/practises/culture sacred & otherwise of other people. As a person of colour (Arab American w/ brown skin & Asiatic features) I cannot take my skin colour off & change the shape of my eyes & bone structure as easily as pale Euro-Americans can take the henne painting from their skin & silver Arab jewelry & mezze off their tables & shisha pipes out of their mouths – as these things go in & out of fashion. Indigenous Americans & Black Americans & Arab Americans experience very real discrimination – which has resulted in our deaths.

That is WHY appropriation is a problem for us. In answer to some comments here. If you were about to be arrested or redacted & tortured or shot by police – you would be very QUICK to ditch OUR ancestral culture/practices/beliefs.

It is the ultimate ‘white’ privilege to believe that the personnas & cultures & sacred practises of other peoples are yours to try on like a Halloween costume. (And yeah – that’s a problem also).

I have had a lot of friends of every colour & belief including indigenous American – as I am from the NYC area (a microcosm of the world) – yet it never occurred to me or my friends to disrespect each other in this way.

And if I may answer someone’s clueless & rude comment above asking ‘why’ it is a problem. One reason it is a problem is that it is misrepresenting & polluting Indigenous religion. Native peoples on this continent have already had their lives & culture altered & robbed from them in such a massive degree; anyone who TRULY loves & respects them & their culture would not contribute to THAT by continuing that.

I am really tired of pretendigenous as I call them. This includes so called ‘belly dancers’ in their fake Orientalist costumes invented by white circus performers in the late 19th & early 20th c. AND pretendians playing ‘Indian’ in America & Europe. STOP IT PLEASE. Not only is it angering – but you look ridiculous.

“…I know of no authentic church that demands payment for instruction on its spiritual path…” HA HA HA I do and so does every member of the LDS Church, if you dont pay 10% of your income you can not go to the temple.